The Subway Connection
by Seldavia
Summary: Takes place after 2nd Gig. Togusa stumbles across information that calls Kusanagi's mental competence into question, and faces opposition from the others when he tries to explain it. From Togusa's POV. ON HIATUS...but I do plan to finish.
1. Chapter 1

The Major once told me that I was part of Section 9 because, as I was more "human", I could see things that they could not. Most of the time this made sense. While missions were more difficult for me, I could point out how Suspect So-and-So could not have done this or that because he didn't have a cybernetic body, could not accomplish a task that the Major or Batou could do without thinking.

So why was I the only one that could see the effect that Kuze had on the Major?

Oh, Batou saw it. But he wasn't saying anything. Those two were always secretive, with themselves and each other. And to a point I could understand; when your mind is continually hooked up to the Net, constantly subject to exposure and violation, you close it as much as you can.

But why didn't the Chief see it? I suppose he trusted her too much, felt willing to believe she was "fine" when it was clear she wasn't.

At first I thought I was going crazy. Wouldn't be the first time. But a feeling of cold dread kept creeping over me, knowing that the foundation held Section 9 together had somehow been damaged, that it could crumble apart if dealt another sharp shock.

I had no idea what I was looking for. I certainly couldn't do any looking that the others could see, either. But I knew that there was one thing that my companions and I would agree on…if you see something, you have to do something, even if it means going it alone.

My first break came from out of the blue. Most of them do, now that I think about it. It never ceases to surprise me.

The whole refugee controversy had quieted down considerably, but there were still isolated incidents here and there. I was questioning a refugee witness when his face suddenly lit up and he stuck his finger in my face. "I remember you! The guy looking for the wife or girlfriend of some dead guy."

This didn't narrow down the possibilities much, so I asked him to explain.

"You came by looking for a guy who was killed, he worked in construction. Another guy came looking for him, with a scary scarred face. The guy who was later implicated in the whole campaign against the refugees. _You_ remember!"

"Oh yes," I thought for a moment. "The one who had been given a full cybernetic body, for a specific construction job."

The man, who looked like had aged twenty years in just a few months, laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I thought it was you. Man, those were hard times. Nearly lost my brother, he was in the Kuze cult."

"The what?"

"A follower of that Kuze guy. He had a _huge_ following. Bunch of idiots." He pointed to himself proudly. "But I have an ancestor that died in Waco, and another one on Flight 93, so I was immune, you might say."

This was all gibberish to me, and had nothing to do with my case, but I was curious in spite of myself. "I don't know what you mean."

"My ancestors lived for a time in the United States, back before the empire years. But when Mai and Zheng got killed, they came back to Asia."

"I still don't understand…how did they die?"

He stared at me, incredulous. "What, don't they teach that stuff in cop class? I'd think you'd at least study the Aum attacks."

I didn't want to make it look like I'd never gone to the police academy, so I ignored this and said, "I have to admit I'm not familiar with Waco and Flight 93."

"Well, my great-something grandmother was part of a cult in a city called Waco. Run by some crazy freak, said all the women belonged to him, even the kids. Told them the government was out to kill them and they'd pass on to Paradise in a ball of fire and destruction. And they did! Not Paradise, I mean. The ball of fire."

"The US government set the fire?"

"Nah, nah, though his supporters claimed they did for years. That guy, he orchestrated the whole thing. Brought his whole flock to destruction. Government thought he could be reasoned with, negotiated with, didn't realize he thought he was God. They got impatient and rushed 'em. But he was set on going out with a bang, and taking as many as he could with him. They played right into his hands."

I frowned, contemplating this. "What does this have to do with Kuze?"

He stared at me as if I were a child. "What, are you kidding? That's what Kuze did! Friggin' cult leader. Knew the scarfaced weirdo was doing something with nukes. Brought out all his people to sit in line and wait for the End. Told them they'd live on forever in the Net. My brother killed himself when the End never came."

A chill ran up my spine. Could the Major….no, she was too smart for that. Most of his followers were frustrated, uneducated, out-of-work refugees. "What was Flight 93, then?"

"Oh, that." His face lit up. "My great-something grandfather, Zheng, was on that flight. Unlike Mai, he died a hero. You ever learn about the World Trade Center attacks in New York?"

"Yes, of course."

"Flight 93 is the one that the passengers brought down in a field somewhere, when they realized what was happening. Attacked the hijackers. Zheng was one of 'em." He grinned broadly. "They figured they were gonna die either way, so they were gonna screw up these terrorists' plans. No Paradise for them! The freaks thought that if they killed a bunch of people in a specific place, they'd get some heavenly reward. Idiots. But the rest of the plane knew they were nuts, and stuck it to'em."

The man stretched his arms over his head. "Yep, I tried to do that, but I didn't have any success. Screamed at anyone who would listen. Tried to pull people out of the blast zone. Considered bumping off Kuze himself, once, but I'm not smart enough to do something like that without him noticing."

Here he frowned at me. "Don't know why anyone else didn't see the signs. I'm no genius, but I know a bum deal when I see one."

I nodded, my mind spinning. "Yes, I know…" I said slowly. "How could she be drawn in like that?"

"Eh? You mean Mai? I dunno…heard that crazy guy had a powerful personality. Maybe he just drew her in and she couldn't escape…"

-&-

"Batou." We were riding in his car, on to the next assignment. "Do you think the Major could ever get fooled by a scam?"

"Kusanagi?" He chuckled. "What, are you serious?"

I stared out the window, knowing I was treading on volatile ground. "You know how that zillionaire guy tricked us all into thinking he was still alive? Something like that."

"Yeah, but we investigated it and found out he was dead. The Major wouldn't just go along with something without checking it out first."

"What if it was something that affected her personally? I mean, the Chief's always looking for his brother, and he's been fooled a couple times…"

He turned, slowly, to look at me. "What's with this sudden interest in everybody's private lives? You gonna investigate me, next?"

"No, of course not."

Batou turned back to the road, tense, watchful. "Look, I know that this last case unnerved her a bit for some reason, but she's fine."

"Of course." Fine, fine, everyone's fine…

-&-

I arrived home earlier than usual and found my wife in a flurry of cleaning. "What's all this?" I asked, looking around at the stacks of boxes.

"Oh!" She climbed down from the attic, her hair knotted up in a handkerchief. "I didn't think you'd be back for another hour or two yet. I'm just getting rid of my old college junk."

"Really? Didn't I ever tell you that your speeches were one of the things that attracted me to you?"

"Oh, I'm keeping those. I'm just getting rid of stuff from the early years."

An untidy pile of papers lay on one of the chairs. As I moved it so that I could sit down, the title of one caught my eye. "Androids and Aum Shinrikyo; Why Robots Don't Join Cults."

Aum? "Could I look at this?" I asked her.

"Oh, don't! That's one of my first psychology papers."

"I promise I won't criticize your grammar." I sat down and began to read.


	2. Chapter 2

She was right when she said it wasn't her best work. It was more of an opinion piece than a research paper.

_Religion is not the issue_, it said somewhere down the line. _An AI unit, if it gains sentience, will eventually question where it came from and who created it. And since a human created the AI unit, it will not have any answers that humans do not. It may choose one of many human belief systems, including atheism._

_The difference between "religion" and "cult" in terms of AI is the fact that a cult is created and ruled by one person. Whereas the world's religions have thousands of scholars and texts to ponder and argue over, within a cult there is only one person's opinion, which can change on a whim. An AI unit would not be satisfied with a set of dictations from one person. It does not need to eat, sleep, or undergo any of the other processes that a cult leader interferes with upon indoctrination._

_So why do humans join cults? The human, unlike the AI, has an emotional weakness. A human can be hoodwinked by charisma; an AI cannot. An AI whose old friend begins speaking strangely will question the person, whereas the human may simply be ensnared. The cult leader can seek out the human's emotional weakness and exploit it. The AI will simply state that the cult leader makes no sense._

_Even if the cult leader were to hack into the AI's brain and implant false information, the AI's brain works in such a way that it will notice, by searching methodically, that pieces of information are missing or don't connect. A human, on the other hand, will simply dismiss the discrepancy as being unable to remember. Emotional barriers may also further cloud judgment and impair memory. _

Fascinating so far, but still irrelevant to my case. She presented case studies of several cult environments and their leaders, and I was surprised to find a reference to the Waco incident there.

Then, ten pages into the paper, I hit pay dirt.

_The question of intelligence, whether or not an AI is "smarter" than a human, also does not come into play. Contrary to popular belief, followers of some of the most ludicrous beliefs have been highly intelligent._

_On March 20, 1995, Aum Shinrikyo followers released sarin gas into several lines of the Tokyo subways. The perpetrators all had educations at prestigious universities, in degrees such as physics and chemistry; one was a respected doctor. The explanation for the attack has been alternatively explained as an attempt to bring about the Apocolypse, or as an attack on Japan itself that would ultimately end with the group's leader as Emperor of Japan._

The more I read about this group, the more ridiculous it seemed. Chemists and physicists believing a diapered mumbler would bring them to Nirvana? An entire lab filled with poisons they created, to bring about the end of the world? Didn't that doctor feel there was any conflict with the oath he took?

The paper blamed rigid Japanese society for part of the phenomenon, stating that even the most successful individuals often felt unwanted and out of place. There was, of course, truth to this. But how did this nut manage to convince completely sane people that this was a good idea? I understood the concept of brainwashing, but it wasn't as if this group kidnapped people off the street and locked them into dark rooms. They had to have been approached, somehow, with some kind of _hook_ that made them interested, even if they were skeptical.

Could it be that this leader had trained people to go out seeking individuals with sorrow in their eyes, pushing buttons until they hit the right one? That by the time they finally met the Great Leader, they were convinced that his strange behavior was the marks of a prophet? It would have been all downhill from there…

In this day and age, it would be even easier. To hack into someone's mind, sift through a person's memories, pick one and then twist it like a dagger through the heart. And once the vital organ had been pulled out, it could be replaced with that of an automaton.

Suddenly I remembered something. The Major…she had attempted to hack into Kuze's mind. She was a master hacker…but she had been bested before! Ever since she had gone diving into Kuze's mind, she'd begun acting strangely, though she tried to hide it…

What had he done? What memory had he tripped? What was the Major's weak spot? _I_ had never seen one. Even Batou admitted he wasn't sure she had one. The Chief didn't seem to see one either.

Perhaps…the bastardized memory came from before she joined Section 9? But where would I be able to look into such a thing…?

I jumped to my feet, picked up my jacket and pulled it on as I rushed out the door.

"Where are you going?" my wife shouted after me. "It's past midnight!"

-&-

I'll be perfectly honest here; the kid unnerved me. I'd had a feeling there was something weird about him when I'd first entered that mental facility. But a couple years on his own guarding information didn't make Aoi any less creepy.

He gave me one of his annoying all-knowing smiles. "Your group having trouble getting information on its own?"

"Sort of." As much as I disliked this kid, it certainly would have helped if he'd accepted the Chief's invitation to work with us. As secretive as he was, he was still more willing to talk than Motoko or Batou. "I know you showed some interest in our Major a while back. Would it bother you to know she might be in some kind of trouble?"

The faintest bit of concern flashed across his face. "It would," he said.

"You must have done some research on her, back when you were trying to get her attention."

"I did."

Jeez. The Major had given us the impression that Aoi liked to ramble on. Maybe he only talked to her. "I think somebody's been screwing with her head, using something from her past against her. But we don't know much about her past, not even our Chief."

Aoi nodded, then motioned for me to follow him. After maneuvering through a maze of books labeled things like "The Culture of the Gridiron District" and "Igbo Mythology," he pulled out a simple color-coded folder, like the type that was once used in hospital emergency rooms.

I flipped through it. Something about a child severely injured in an airplane crash. She was given what was then an experimental treatment, a full cyborg body. But I didn't recognize the name. "Is this supposed to be Motoko?" I asked Aoi.

He nodded. "She changed her name when she reached the legal age."

I scratched my head. "I'm sure the plane crash was traumatic," I said, "but I doubt she would have even remembered much about it. And since she's had to deal with being a cyborg almost her whole life, I can't understand why something connected to it would make her snap. It's certainly not a _hidden_ weakness."

Aoi pulled out another folder. "There was another survivor on that flight," he said as he handed it to me. "A boy slightly older than her. Wasn't as enthusiastic about being a cyborg. They actually brought her in periodically after the treatment was done, to play with him and show him that a synthetic body wasn't all that bad. But he seemed to think differently, though he agreed to it in the end."

I looked over the folder. There wasn't anything I recognized, yet something pulled at the back of my mind.

"Does this help?" Aoi asked.

"I think so," I said slowly. "It's not really concrete, but it just gives me this feeling…detective's intuition, I guess. Or as the Major would say, my ghost is whispering to me…"


	3. Chapter 3

"You studying for a test, or something?"

I awoke to see Batou standing over me, examining one of the many books I had purchased on cults. My wife had gotten tired of me reading at the table, so I wound up "working late" several nights in a row.

He flipped through one titled _The Psychology of Mind Control_. "Didn't you get enough of this stuff in the police academy?"

I rubbed my eyes and tried to sit up straight at the little table, foiled by a crick in my back.

"I think you drooled on that one," Batou pointed with disgust at the book I had been using as a pillow.

"Togusa!" The Major's sharp voice came out of nowhere behind me and I jumped. "You're finally awake. Go into the interrogation room, there's a suspect we picked up while you were napping. He refuses to speak to anyone with cybernetic modifications."

Batou shrugged. "I was gonna give him the full Section 9 treatment, but the Major figured that since you're here, you might as well do your job…"

"Yeah, yeah." I stood up, smoothed down some of the worst wrinkles in my rumpled clothes, and headed for the interrogation room.

Once inside, I took a good look at the guy seated at the table. He didn't seem like much. Yes, he looked almost fully cyberized (when you've been working with cyborgs as long as I have, you learn how to tell the difference), yet he had this gaunt look about him as if he hadn't been eating or sleeping well. Whatever was wearing on him, it had gone on for a while.

I sat down with a friendly smile, ready to greet him with one line or another, but he spoke up before I could even open my mouth. "Thank God, a human," he said with visible relief. "You gotta let me outta here."

I didn't hide my puzzlement. "_You're_ a cyborg. Did you forget?"

He shook his head vigorously. "I try to avoid other cyborgs as much as possible, after…" Here he looked furtively around. There were no cameras in the room, and I guess the Major and Batou didn't have their noses against the glass like they usually did, because he relaxed ever so slightly. He leaned forward and whispered to me with the conspirator's air, "The lady cyborg…she's been _infested_."

He said this last word with such fear in his voice, I was wondering if he would pass out right there. "We have very dependable antivirus programs here," I assured him.

Looking at me like I had lost my mind, he said, "You can't tell? Has she been acting…strangely…lately?"

Frowning, I decided to try a different tack. "What do you mean by infested?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it. "Can't talk here. I can give you an address, though…"

"What? You're going to give me, the employee of the enemy, the address to your hideout?"

Shaking his head, he said, "It's not a hideout, it's a perfectly legal NGO. But…we can't risk…someone with _her_ level of infection…the virus is spreading as it is…I think…" Here he began to shudder violently. "I think _she_ may be the main carrier…"

Here was a conundrum. I certainly had no intention of screwing over Section 9 and doing what he asked. And yet…how could he sense something was wrong with the Major?"

I excused myself and came out to talk to Motoko. "What did you pick him up for?" I asked her.

"We think he is connected to a gun-running group that has links with organized crime," she explained. I looked at Batou. He shrugged.

"I go with what our fearless leader says," he told me, but he didn't look convinced.

I wasn't either. My ghost was screaming now, and it had something to do with the Major. There was no way that little twerp was connected to the yakuza gangs. Something strange was going on…

-&-

It was the first time I had intentionally deceived my colleagues. It was true that I didn't see any threat in the guy. But I didn't tell them about the address he gave me.

Back in the refugee district again, I found the place he had mentioned. It was a little out of the way, somewhat difficult to find, but it had its name clearly displayed on its windows: Phoenix Sanctuary. The cheery colors reminded me eerily of the Sunflower Society.

The young woman volunteering at the desk gave me a half-friendly, half-suspicious smile. "Are you here to pick up somebody?"

"Actually, I heard about this place from a friend. He said it could help my sister…but she's a little skittish. Is there someone I can speak to?"

She nodded. "Our assistant director is in the first room on the left."

I introduced myself to the middle-aged man sitting behind the battered desk. He introduced himself as Mr. Tanaka and invited me to sit down. "Has a member of your family, someone with a cybernetic body, been acting strangely lately?"

"Yes, my sister. A friend of mine told me I should come here. But he wouldn't say anything about what you did."

He nodded. "We've heard rumors that someone has been investigating us…someone with the Kuze Virus."

I blinked, startled. "The _what?_"

Mr. Tanaka folded his hands on his desk. "Do you remember a set of incidents a while back, connected with unrest regarding the refugee population?"

I nodded.

"The incident was fuelled by two individuals. One worked in the Japanese government and wanted to drive the refugees out. The other claimed to be a leader of the refugees. They worked for a similar purpose, but completely independent of each other."

"How do you know all this?" I demanded. This information had been restricted to Section 9 and the top officials of the Prime Minister's office.

"I'll explain in a moment. The refugee leader, whose name was Kuze, was actually the charismatic leader of a doomsday cult. He'd been given a full cybernetic body at a very young age, and was dissatisfied with his life as he saw it, half-machine. He believed that both he and the refugees were confined by circumstance. So he claimed he would set them free…with immortality in the Net. But only those closest to him knew how he planned to do this; via nuclear holocaust."

He leaned forward. "For the past year or so, he was constantly connected to the Net. He let people flow in and out of his mind…a mind poisoned with the cybernetic equivalent of smallpox. Anyone who entered his mind left infected.

"He targeted some vulnerable part of their mind, some memory that he could manipulate for his own purposes. Even after they left his mind, as long as they stayed connected to the Net, he would continue to feed them poisoned information. Eventually his followers believed that he was a kind of god, a messiah that would lead them from their world of suffering into Paradise."

By this time I was getting chills down my spine. I tried to sound sceptical. "Sounds pretty crazy…and you haven't told me how you came to know all this."

He rubbed the back of his neck, as if about to reveal something embarrassing. "I was one of his original followers. But as more and more people started joining in, we began to argue. I wanted to give people full disclosure about what would bring this Paradise about. He didn't. So we split. But before I left, I learned through working with him about the other side of the story, how that government guy was just waiting for Kuze to push the button. And I haven't heard about him since."

I was impressed in spite of myself. "So now you give counselling for people that were followers of Kuze?"

He nodded, and added, "But it's more than that. From working with people, I've noticed that fragments of his mindset – which we call the Kuze Virus – still lingers. It's mostly found in people who are in denial of its presence that have the worst cases."

_People in denial. Oh, God…_

"We're trying our hardest to eradicate the Kuze Virus," he continued, "but we think that it is growing and festering in individuals we haven't reached. We fear that it may show up again in mutated form…in another infected individual."

I tried not to stammer. "Another individual? Do you think that this person could…become the next Kuze?"

He nodded gravely. "It is essential that we find this person, so this does not happen again. I do not believe the Japanese authorities understand exactly what happened, and would not be able to prevent it a second time. In fact, we believe that the most likely carrier is actually employed in the military or some other security branch, and has begun working against us recently."

"You think the virus has started to take root in the M…in this individual?"

"Yes. And it is probably starting to grow in others that spend a lot of time around this person…friends, family, that sort of thing. So while we're on the subject, what shall we do for your sister? When do you think you could bring her in?"

I gave him false information for the next ten minutes, then rushed out of the office to make sure I could begin my own intervention for my "sister".

-&-

"Ludicrous!"

"What?" I jumped to my feet. "Chief, do you think that I'd make up something like this? For what, a laugh?"

The Chief slapped his glasses down on the pile of papers I had presented to him. "Togusa, I have complete confidence in the Major. She understands her place in this operation and I'm not about to question that."

"But sir…you can't deny that the Major's been acting odd ever since that Kuze guy showed up…"

He crossed his arms and gave me his best Look of Death. "Our work is stressful, and sometimes we react more to things than we should. Remember how you nearly blew everything apart at the end of the Laughing Man case? If Batou hadn't found you in time…"

"I know, I know! That's why we have to do something for the Major _now_, before she…"

"I have spoken with her personally, several times. She has assured me that there is nothing wrong and I believe her. I'm sorry I couldn't offer you the same support when you had your breakdown."

"Chief, this isn't about me…"

"I can't have your paranoid delusions undermining the trust that the people of Section 9 have in each other. There is nothing more to discuss, Togusa. You are dismissed."

Aramaki had spoken. There was nothing left to do. I left his office, dejected, and sat on a bench in the hall, my head in my hands.

Batou strolled over, his hands in his pockets. "What's the matter, kid? The old man chew you out again?"

I rubbed my forehead. "Uhn…Batou, I'm not in the mood right now…"

"I am. What is it this time? You forget your brain somewhere again?"

I looked up at him. Was what Mr. Tanaka said true? That the virus would begin to affect the friends of the person infected? Batou seemed like his old self. It would take one heck of a cult leader to put one over on _him_.

"I feel like a drink," I said as I heaved myself off the bench. "You want to hit the bars?"

His eyebrows nearly leaped off his face. "You drink? I never would have guessed…"

"You want to go or not?"

"Sure. Let me go ask the Major…"

"No. Nobody else. Just you and me."

He gave me a funny look. "Um…no offence, kid, but I just like you as a _friend_…"

"Shut _up_. This is important, and I need somebody stable to talk to."

"Stable? Me?" he laughed. "Okay, but if I have to listen to your sob story, you're buying."


	4. Chapter 4

"Hi, Mr. Batou!" One of the Tachikomas waved at us as we passed by. "Hi, Mr. Togusa!"

Batou waved back with a grin; I didn't even look up. Now on its third generation, the Tachikoma Project had given me the creeps ever since the first had met its demise. The Major had suggested that the first generation had acquired ghosts. It seemed morbid to keep manufacturing the things and allowing them to achieve sentience, only to have them sacrifice themselves in a fit of martyrdom. I never could figure out if the Tachikomas fully understood the concept of death. Not technically being alive, they didn't have any kind of survival instinct. While Batou seemed fixed on making their stay as pleasant as possible, I tried to avoid them whenever I could.

The bar where he and the Major always went was just a short drive from the base. Batou walked right up to the bartender and requested his usual.

"I'll have what he's having." My request elicited snickers from Batou, who doubtless had ordered some vile concoction from the pits of Hades. It didn't really matter to me; I had never planned to actually drink it.

"So, what's on your mind, kid?" he asked, as two glasses with ice swimming in murky brown fluid clattered down next to us. "Work pressure finally getting to ya? I'll have to warn you, once you start coming here you can't stop."

"I'll keep that in mind." I didn't even touch the glass in front of me. "Batou, I know you cut me off before when I asked about the Major, but I really think there's something serious going on."

He frowned, which I took as a good sign; if he hadn't wanted to talk, he would have stomped out. "Yeah, I know. But what do you wanna do about it? We're strange people working strange cases under strange circumstances. I know she seems off, but I honestly couldn't tell you what 'normal' is for her."

"She must have _some_ semblance of normalcy, if you're telling me something about her doesn't seem right."

He grunted. "It's that Kuze guy." He took a long swig of his drink. "She was a little too interested in him, if you ask me."

I straightened, excited. "So you see it too! You could tell he had some kind of pull on her?"

"_Oh_ yeah."

"Like she actually believed some of the crazy things he was saying?"

"You bet."

"Like she might even betray those she cared about to follow him?"

He gritted his teeth. "I'd wager it."

I slapped the bar table in exhilaration and relief. "Finally! Now I know _you_ have to believe me. You were there when she found him, after all. You saw them together!"

"I wish I hadn't."

"I think she got sucked into the Kuze cult. I think she's a carrier of the virus!"

Batou choked. "What?! What cult? What virus?"

"The Kuze cult! Don't you remember? The plot to enter the Net for immortality? The refugees that lined up for mass suicide when the nuclear missile was fired?"

He stared at me for several minutes, one hand on his drink, the other grasping the table. "Huh," he said finally. "You know, crazy as it sounds, that actually might make sense."

"Of course it makes sense!" I nearly shouted, exasperated. "What the heck did you think I was talking about? What else do you think would have her so obsessed with that guy?"

He turned back to the table. "Nothing."

I stared. "What? Tell me what you were thinking. Maybe I'm wrong about this whole thing."

"It's none of your business."

"Okay, fine. We'll go back to the Kuze virus theory…"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." He stood up.

"What?! C'mon, you haven't finished your drink."

"You haven't even started yours."

I plopped myself down on the chair and grasped the glass, taking a sip and trying not to show that it tasted like napalm. My face must have been pretty transparent, as Batou laughed heartily and sat back down again.

"Jeez," I said, taking another sip to provide more faces for his amusement. "I'd almost think you were jealous of him."

Batou said nothing.

I choked on my drink and coughed until I turned purple. Batou had to whack me on the back. "For the love of…_that's_ what you've been so grouchy about?" I fell into hysterical laughter.

The bartender took my drink away, even though I'd had maybe a teaspoon of it. "I think you've had enough tonight, son."

I sat on the chair and tried to rein in my giggles, unsure of whether they were the product of the stress or liquor or both. Batou scowled at me like a gargoyle, then suddenly stiffened.

"What is it?" I asked.

He looked at me, puzzled. "One of the Tachikomas contacted me. Didn't you hear it?"

"No. Maybe it wants to play with you. You do treat them like pets."

His face held a deep seriousness that I couldn't decipher. "I don't think so," he said in measured voice. "The Tachikoma's at the entrance of the bar. Follow me, but stay a few steps behind, ok?"

Mystified, I followed him up the stairs and held back in the dingy hallway. He opened the door and I saw that, indeed, a Tachikoma was waiting there like a designated driver. "Hi, Mr. Batou!" it said cheerfully.

"Hi," he said flatly. "What's the big emergency?"

"Well, actually…" Tachikoma flailed its "arms" in a good impression of a human wringing his hands. "I know I'm supposed to take you back to base, but the orders seem…strange…"

"What seems strange about them?"

"Well, first of all, I can see Mr. Togusa is with you, but I can't understand why Mr. Saito would be asked to kill him."

"_What?!_" I demanded, my whole body going stiff.

"Shut _up_, kid," Batou hissed, intentionally not turning to face me. "Tachikoma, did these orders come from the Major?"

"Yes, Mr. Batou. She hasn't been acting in a consistent manner. Neither has Mr. Aramaki, or Mr. Saito…"

"Yes, all right, what do you mean by not being consistent?"

"Well, I haven't known the Major for very long, but analysis of my predecessors' memories tells me that her behavior has been erratic lately. All members of Section 9 with carbon-based intelligence systems have been acting erratic except for you and Togusa."

"I was right!" I couldn't help exclaiming. "The virus doesn't affect AI units!"

Batou ignored me. "Does Saito know that Togusa is here?"

The Tachikoma's "eye" spun around in its socket. "No, but he's beginning to get nervous. He keeps asking me why you won't come."

Silence.

"I have an idea," I offered.

"Let's hear it, kid," Batou told me, clearly irked at not being able to think of one himself.

"Go ahead with the Tachikoma. I'll leave through a back door and go to Aoi's place. He knows something's up with the Major…and he's the only person I know – besides Kuze – that can hack into her mind."

"That's a mighty risky plan, kid. I'm not sure I even understand half of it."

"Trust me."

I could hear the scowl in his voice. "You'd better get this sorted out before they give me a lobotomy. Go to the bartender and tell him you need something in the back room. He'll know what you mean."

"Got it!" Knowing every second counted, I flew down the stairs and gave the bartender the message. He pointed to a door behind the bar. "The one on the left," he called after me.

I took the door on the left and was surprised to see that it led down into a cellar. I followed an underground corridor for maybe a block or two and then resurfaced again through another door. I ran hell-for-leather through the streets toward Aoi's place.

I don't remember much about this marathon through the city, completely consumed by all-encompassing fear. It was worse even than the night I was shot at the Sunflower Society. Then, I knew that I could contact the Chief or Major to help me. This time, it was the Major who was trying to kill me, and I had no way of knowing if Saito, Pazu or the Major herself would find me as I fled. No amount of running or hiding would help me then.

When I finally reached Aoi's place, I was so out of breath I nearly fainted in the doorway. As I kneeled splayed out on the floor in front of Aoi, trying to spit out the words I needed to save Batou from his imminent demise, I heard Batou's voice behind me. "Hey, Togusa! You all right?"

My head jerked up in consternation as I saw both him and the Tachikoma coming toward me, wondering if lack of oxygen was causing me to hallucinate.

Aoi nodded toward them. "I hacked into Section 9's systems," he informed me as I focused on breathing. "After you left, I started investigating on my own and came across mention of the Kuze Virus." He frowned, troubled. "I am afraid that Kusanagi is indeed infected."


	5. Chapter 5

Batou scowled. "Are you absolutely sure?"

Nodding, Aoi said, "Messages and scout viruses similar to Kuze's have been flowing from her throughout the Net at an extraordinary rate."

"What are scout viruses?" I asked.

"They are little programs that assess a person's vulnerability," Aoi explained. "If they find a suitable host, they send out a signal to the replicas of the Kuze Virus. It's likely both of you were investigated by scout viruses, but were ultimately rejected."

"Maybe because we already sensed Kuze was an asshole." Batou folded his arms and stared at Aoi. "Can we get our Major back? And if so, how?"

Aoi began walking down a hallway and motioned for us to follow. "There is a slim possibility we can purge the virus from her system, but it's very risky. In the meantime, we have to move away from here. This place is hack-proof, but it won't take Kusanagi very long to figure out who hacked Section 9 using simple logic, and she knows how to get here."

Following uncertainly, Tachikoma asked, "Where are we going?"

"I built a kind of…secure center…over the years," Aoi approached a blank wall, and pulled a hookup cord from one of the ports in the back of his neck. "Originally I was going to use it to hide during the first Laughing Man incident. But after a while I got…apathetic." He unscrewed a light switch, and exposed a port under it, hooking himself up to it. After a few moments of looking spaced out, a door appeared out of nowhere.

"This is all well and good," said Batou, "but what's to prevent the Major from hacking through the door?"

Aoi smiled. "This is a lock I designed myself. It works by flashing images from my mind's memories before me. I respond by sending back a corresponding image. Even if my brain was hacked and someone tried to gain entry with it, it wouldn't work. This system is on a timer of a few seconds, and a hacker would not have enough time to find the image that only makes sense to me. If he tried it, his brain would get fried."

"Swank," I said.

Batou looked impressed in spite of himself. But he still wanted to play devil's advocate. "And what if they say to hell with the lock and just blow up the door?"

"This door and frame is made of one of the strongest materials known to man. In addition, it is located at a cornerstone in the city's infrastructure. An explosion big enough to open it would wreak havoc on the city itself." Aoi motioned for us to come in.

We walked through a long series of tunnels, finally coming to another wall with a fake light switch. After unlocking it in the same way, he led us into a small room – perhaps the size of a large master bedroom – that was crammed to the ceiling with wires, computer parts, and other hardware.

"Oh, sorry!" Tachikoma exclaimed as she knocked over a box full of odds and ends.

"It's all right. What we really need is over here." Aoi bent over a small metal object the size of a football, which looked vaguely like a cyborg braincase. It had a number of ports as well as cables looping out of it and snaking across the floor.

"Well, what is it?" Batou demanded.

"I haven't thought of a name for it yet," Aoi admitted with a shrug. "It has a number of functions. But the most important one is it allows several people to enter the Net through an extremely secure firewall."

"What will we be doing in the Net?" I asked.

Aoi set the thing down. "That depends. Do either of you have any idea when Kusanagi might have been exposed to a scout virus? She would have begun to act strangely, but more importantly, she would have been uncontactable for a short period of time. The scout virus infiltrates the victim's subconscious and implants a false memory based on what it finds. Frequently this happens when the victim is sleeping…but not always."

Batou and I put on our thinking caps. If the Major had been infected while sleeping, we were pretty well screwed. She could have had any number of strange dreams and there would be no way to tell which one was the scout virus.

It was Batou who spoke first. "There has been only one time when I haven't been able to get hold of the Major…when we weren't on a mission or something, I mean. Togusa, remember when we were testing those two newbies, trying to get more people into Section 9 to deal with the whole Individual Eleven thing?"

I nodded. "I remember she disappeared from our radar for a moment…but she was trying to make herself untrackable, remember? That was part of the exercise."

"Yeah, but _we_ should have been able to find her. And I eventually did, but she seemed…weird…almost half-asleep…"

"That may have been the point of entry," Aoi told us. "During that time, the scout virus likely discovered some vulnerable part of her mind, then signaled to the Kuze Virus. By the time you found her, Batou, she had already been infected."

Batou shuddered. "Well, what do we do with this information?"

"We hack into Kusanagi's mind."

I cringed. "You make it sound easy."

Shrugging, Aoi said, "We don't have much of a choice. If Kusanagi is the main carrier of the Kuze Virus, we will likely see a repeat of Kuze's apocalyptic vision. And with the rest of Section 9 helping her…"

"Say no more." Batou plugged into the device. "I'm ready. But what do I have to do? I'm a fair hacker, but nothing like you or the Major…and the kid here is about a thousand levels below me."

"You two know Kusanagi much better than I do," said Aoi as I glared at Batou. "It will be up to the two of you to find the memory that the scout virus exploited. We need to know the key to its entry, because that information is likely essential to killing the virus and releasing its hold on her."

I plugged into the machine. Aoi did so as well and nodded to the both of us. "Once we enter, I want you to follow behind as close as you can. I'll fend off any attempts at hacking. Once we get to Kusanagi, I want the two of you to go in and start looking for memories that correspond with the event you just mentioned. I'll make sure her internal defenses don't interfere. When you think you've found it, let me know and I'll pull us out of there."

"What about me?" Tachikoma asked.

"I want you to watch from the outside," Aoi instructed. "Let me know if you see any unusual activity in the Net or Kusanagi's mind. You never know what we may find, what shape it may take, or how it may attack…"

-&-

I'd always hated diving. It was such a surreal experience. I felt like I was floundering around in zero gravity while I attempted to follow Aoi and Batou.

We got to the Major without any mishaps (though Tachikoma gave us a couple false alarms). I felt eerily inappropriate, like the worst kind of voyeur, when we entered her mind. Even though she'd ghost-hacked me at least once.

Memories flashed before us like spliced movies on a broken screen. Suddenly Batou shouted and pointed. It was a little back-alley, nothing that would really draw the eye. "That's where I found her that day," he said. "And look…I don't remember that shop being there."

The three of us walked up the phantom steps and entered into the shop. Once again, I didn't see anything significant; it looked like a junk store, odds and ends that wind up in antique stores when the children of the deceased don't know what to do with it all.

"Be careful," Aoi warned. "This is the right place. The scout virus is somewhere nearby." He stiffened and clamped his hands on our shoulders. We followed his gaze and saw an elderly woman standing there.

"Good afternoon," she said, very cordial but with a strange air I couldn't decipher. "Anything interest you? This shop is full of the stuff of dreams…old memories…"

Batou turned away from her with a look of disgust, and scanned the room. It certainly was an odd collection. He started moving toward what looked like an old car. Batou liked cars, so this wasn't unusual…but then I noticed what was inside the car.

There were two cyborg bodies, very primitive by today's standards, of a young boy and girl. The boy had very light hair and a necklace of paper cranes. The girl bore a striking resemblance to the Major.

"You seeing what I'm seeing?" Batou asked me in a whisper.

"Ah yes, the first love of a child," said the old lady, who seemed unable to say anything other than clichés and stock sayings. "It never leaves you…the memories are stored forever within the mind."

I stared open-mouthed, remembering the medical record Aoi had showed me. Could it be…?"

Abruptly the Tachikoma's voice reached my ears. "Mr. Batou, Mr. Togusa, something's coming!"

The three of us looked up, and I nearly jumped out of my virtual skin when I saw Kuze's face staring at me from the body of the old woman. "Nosing into places we shouldn't, are we?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Pull out!" Aoi ordered. He and Batou disappeared. I scrambled to get away from the Kuze-thing, tripping over junk and trying desperately to focus on getting back to the surface.

Kuze-woman snatched up a silver candlestick and glided toward me, through boxes and furniture, like a ghost in a horror movie. I turned around and half-ran, half-fell down the stairs. Behind me I heard an angry hiss just before a blow to the back of my head knocked me out.

It was just for a brief moment, but when my eyes fluttered open again I couldn't remember what had just happened. A massive pain in my chest drove me to my knees. I instinctively put my hand to my chest and felt hot wetness. I drew my hand away and noticed with dull horror that it was covered with blood. I raised my head to see the shattered, spiky glass in the window of the Sunflower Society, a gunman still firing rounds after his lost quarry.

I realized where I was and wondered if I were dreaming. The pain was too real. I could feel my life ebbing away through the double hole in my chest, one in front and one in back. Beginning to panic, I leaned against a wall of the alley, stumbling slowly toward a busy street ahead of me. As I reached it, a shaft of pain lanced through my whole body like lightning and I fell to the ground. People scattered, fearing that the attacker must be close by.

Though it was night, the street around me began to grow bright, an indication I was about to faint. I needed to contact somebody soon or I would die…

/Togusa,/ I heard Batou's voice inside my head. /Can you hear me?/

/I've been shot,/ I told him. /Can you call the Major for…/

/Do not attempt to contact Kusanagi or Aramaki/, Aoi's voice pierced through my mind. /If you do, it will open a channel for the Kuze Virus that is attempting to hack into your mind./

/Wait for us,/ Batou ordered. /Can you hang on for a minute or two? We're going to get you out of there./

I struggled to remain conscious. /I think I'm going to black out anyway…/

/The Kuze Virus will take any opportunity to control your mind,/ Aoi said sharply. /If you fall unconscious you will be vulnerable and it will take over. It will also have a chance to track us down!/

/Don't you dare screw up on me, kid,/ Batou snarled.

Blood ran down from the corner of my mouth and began to drip onto the pavement. /Guys…I'm dying here…can you pick up the pace a little…/

Tachikoma cut in with a few words of encouragement. /Hang on, Mr. Togusa!/

/Your injuries are not real,/ Aoi informed me. /The scout virus seized upon this memory in searching for a vulnerable point./

Little bubbles formed in my mouth as I struggled to breathe. _They sure seem real…._ I felt a strange sensation, like tiny needles teasing the folds of my brain. Some little parasite was trying to wiggle its way in. I shook my head like a horse shedding flies, and then felt another, familiar presence.

/I found him!/ Tachikoma announced excitedly. /Sending coordinates!/

Just before I blacked out, I felt strong hands lifting me up on either side. Batou's voice floated through the darkness. "Thanks for hanging in there, kid."

-&-

I awoke to see the ceiling straight above me, with the faces of Batou and Aoi looking intently into my own. Batou let out a sigh of relief. "That was cutting it just a little too close."

Aoi nodded. "At least you seemed to gather some important information, for when we do this again."

I sat up, still wet, but this time with sweat instead of blood. "What do you mean, _again_?"

"We only found the memory that triggered the virus' invasion," he explained calmly as both Batou and I glared at him. "We need to enter her mind again to find the virus and exterminate it."

Batou scratched his head. "So, what, does this memory serve as a kind of antibody or something?"

Aoi permitted himself a thin smile. "Something like that. Could you explain the memory to me?"

"I think that kid the Major knew when she was first transferred to her cyborg body…I think that was Kuze," I told him. "If the two of them were together in the same ward for as long as the hospital records indicate, then it's likely that they got to know each other quite well."

Batou grunted. "And the crazy old hag's words about forgotten love…she was infatuated with the guy, even though she didn't want to admit it." He scowled so deeply I thought his face would break. "When I found her there, with him…her foot was trapped under a beam, but that would have been nothing for her. She could have killed him…but she didn't."

Aoi nodded. "She probably did not consciously realize the depth of the hold he had on her. By now, the real Kusanagi is probably hidden, embedded deeply somewhere in a corner of her mind. Over a long period, the virus slowly took over."

"How do we find her and get her out?" I could tell Batou was trying very hard not to show how upset he was. "If we dig around in her mind too long, the virus'll find us."

"We use the memory. Kuze used it to unlock her mind when he hacked her brain…now we will use it to follow his trail. If we can catch him unawares, we have a good chance at freeing Kusanagi from his grip."

The shaking in my limbs had just barely subsided, and now it started up again. "How are we going to fight him, if we come across him? It's not like we can shoot him."

"Leave Kuze to me," Aoi assured us. "I can match his hacking ability and, more importantly, his mind games. My mind is closed to him. It was always closed to Kusanagi, and to you. While I keep him distracted, you will need to find Kusanagi." He frowned. "I'm not sure what condition you'll find her in. She may be itching to leave; or she may be so deeply infected that she will want to stay. In that case, you will need to convince her to leave; forcing her out will create too much stress on her mind, and it will collapse."

"What about the others in Section 9?" Batou demanded. "She's connected to them, isn't she? What if they realize what's going on and gang up on us?"

"Kusanagi's mind is a one-way street. She issues orders, and while she compiles information that they give her, she does not allow them entry. Unless there is some severe outward sign of our presence – if she collapses, for instance – the rest of Section 9 will never know that we are there."

Aoi stiffened like a wolf hearing an enemy's howl. He turned to us. "Are you ready to dive back in?"

"_Already_? I'm still recovering from the last dive!" I shouted, leaning hard on the box where I sat.

I suddenly got a vision of a news report, courtesy of Aoi. A news helicopter's shaky image filled my mind, centered on a huge group of people sitting in a park, perfectly lined up and all facing the same direction. Chills ran down my spine as I recognized the pattern.

"I estimate that we have maybe three hours," he explained. "There's more. This is only a test run. If we fail, this scenario will repeat itself all over the world." Batou and I exchanged glances. We'd faced apocalyptic scenarios before, but always with the rest of Section 9 at our backs. Now our second family was the ones trying to kill us.

Turning to Tachikoma, Aoi said, "We needed to keep our minds somewhat exposed in order to find the memory exploited by the scout virus. However, this time we know where we're going and we will need some protection…I am sure the Kuze Virus is aware of our attempt. Tachikoma, I need you to put up a firewall around us and maintain it until we find Kusanagi."

Batou frowned. "I know the Tachikomas are good at firewalls, but even I can hack through them. How does this help us?"

Aoi smiled in his cryptic way. "The Kuze Virus is not Kuze, Batou. It is merely a complex program with a specific mission. Oh, we can't underestimate its dangers, but the fact remains that we can count on it to act in some ways, though other actions may be unpredictable. We can count on the Kuze Virus to attack human minds, and leave AI minds alone, because the AI is immune to the cult leader's siren song. Are you ready, Tachikoma?"

"Ready and willing!" it assured us with a little salute.

"All right." Aoi hooked himself up to his machine and motioned for us to do the same. "We can't waste any more time. Let's go!"


	7. Chapter 7

If before I'd had any reservations about diving into the Major's mind, they were all gone now. The situation before us was too dire to be worried about politeness. I kept my mind in detective mode as I searched her memories along with the others, though I heard groans from Batou every once in a while as he ran across intimate information he didn't like. I hoped for his sake that Kusanagi never found out what he had been doing.

/This way,/ I felt Aoi nudge us in another direction. As I followed him, the image of an ICU ward slowly materialized in front of my eyes. It was empty save for one pre-teen boy lying in bed, hooked up to an IV and several other things I could not identify, with a box full of paper cranes on one side. He spoke to a small girl, and I recognized her from the antique shop.

Kusanagi, I remembered, had been brought in to encourage him to switch to a cyborg body. She seemed pretty skilled with it, even though it was a fairly primitive model and she'd only been using it for a short time.

This wasn't enough for Kuze, however. He folded a square of paper with one hand, the other apparently paralyzed. "Can you fold paper cranes?" he asked Kusanagi.

Kusanagi eagerly took up the paper and started folding it. But she hadn't mastered fine motor skills yet, and she wound up with a ball of crumpled paper. Kuze glared at her with an accusing stare. "See, that's why I don't want a new body. It's useless." Kusanagi ran off in tears.

"Stupid kid," Batou grumbled. "He's fussing over origami? Heck, I don't think I could fold a paper crane. Not that I'd have any use for it. Jeez, lots of people lost limbs or more before prosthetic bodies were invented, and they managed to cope." He could not keep his contempt hidden.

I doubted that the fight was really about origami. Looking at the overflowing box, I remembered sitting in the hospital with some childhood illness or other, and kids from school bringing me sets of paper cranes. If you made a hundred of them, the old wives' tale said, the ill person would be cured. Nobody really believed that, but it was taken as a sign of goodwill, a get-well-soon wish if you will. The problem with Kuze, it seemed to me, was not his body but his mind. Obviously the plane crash that put him in the hospital left him traumatized; though I found it hard to believe that he carried this grudge over the loss of his body beyond the grave.

"Look out! Something's coming!" Tachikoma's voice echoed in my mind, and suddenly the scene around us wavered like the landscape on a hot August day. The next time I blinked, Kuze stood before us.

"You're getting much too close," he said in a soft voice that nevertheless rang throughout the room. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop you here, lest you interfere with destiny."

"Destiny my ass," Batou snapped. "I don't believe in that crap."

Suddenly a wall appeared between us and Kuze, and Aoi motioned behind us. A door, which had not been there before, opened. "I can only hold him off for so long. Once you free Kusanagi, you must bring her back here so she can confront him and take back her body."

Batou and I sprinted through the doorway, only to find us in a maze of hallways, every door shut tight with an elaborate old-fashioned lock. He scowled at the locks. "We don't have time to be hunting for keys. The Major'll probably kill us afterward, but we're going to have to smash through. Let's split up!"

I broke down the first door with a good hard kick, then stepped carefully inside. Nothing but an empty room, save for a single naked lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. "There's nothing in here," I said aloud.

"Nothing in this one either," I heard Batou yell. "Dammit, I wonder if Kuze set this up just to slow us down."

"D'you think he might have put her in the farthest room?" I asked.

"Let's check."

We both sprinted to the far end of our respective hallways, then kicked down both doors on each side. Nothing. Running back, I yelled, "He's probably got it set up so that it's the last door we try, no matter what door that is!"

"Better get kicking, then!" I heard a crash from his direction, and more cursing. Apparently he'd hoped he was wrong.

I stood for a moment, thinking. It seemed like an odd security system, but then Kuze was an odd person. I stared at the wall near the entrance, the only place without a door on it, and gave it a solid kick.

A door-sized piece of the wall fell down and shattered. "What the hell was that?" Batou asked, running to my side.

Inside the door, in a small white room devoid of everything except a small bed, sat the Major.

Batou shoved me so hard I nearly fell over. "Major!" he barked. "Are you all right?"

As I walked in I saw her look up at him with dead eyes. "What are you doing here…? You should get ready, it will all be over soon…"

The bottom dropped out of my stomach. "Dammit, snap out of it!" Batou shouted. "That Kuze is just screwing you over. Do you _want_ to be taken for a fool?" He grabbed her arm, but she pulled back. I clamped my hand on his shoulder.

"Remember what Aoi said," I told him. "She has to leave willingly, or this won't work."

"Why _won't_ she leave willingly?" Batou grumbled as the Major just stood there, staring at the floor. "I've never seen her act so strange. Are you positive it's even her?"

I frowned and sat next to her, racking my brain for all the information I'd read about cults and their methods. "Where are you going, Major?"

She answered to the floor, not to me. "To another life, to immortality, in the Net."

"Why?"

"This world is too fake, and to difficult. We will erase the mortal bonds that our manufactured bodies have placed upon us."

"Why?"

Batou looked at me as if I were imitating a three-year-old. But there was a method to my madness, and I didn't have time to explain. From what I understood, the best way to break someone out of a cult's grip was to make them question what they had been conditioned to believe. Often this process took weeks or months. I hoped the Major would be able to catch on quicker than most.

"There are…endless possibilities in the Net," Motoko said. "We will see all, know all…we will be like…deities…"

"Is that so?" I had already thought up a good argument. "The Net was created by people, Major. And there are still plenty of people in the world who aren't connected to it. Don't you remember Aoi, and all the trouble he went through to guard information so that it wouldn't be lost or corrupted?"

"It is still a better alternative than being trapped in a metal body," Motoko answered dully.

"Really." I could feel Batou's temper rising. "So, you feel helpless in your manufactured body, which by the way helps you see, hear, run, and everything else better than a human body…but you're going to let what's left of your ghost get carried off in the Net, with a zillion other people? Where's the logic in that?" Appealing to her harder side, Batou bent down near her face and demanded, "Are you such a weakling that, if we were living a couple hundred years in the past, you would fall over in defeat if you so much as had a leg amputated?"

"Is this you talking, or Kuze?" I demanded. This time she looked up at me. "Just because Kuze couldn't adjust to his cyborg body doesn't mean the rest of the world has to suffer."

She dropped her gaze back down to the floor. "He's only doing what he believes is good…"

"Yeah, if I had a dime for every time I heard _that_…" Batou muttered.

Time to try a different tack. "Major, do you really want to spend eternity with a bunch of people you don't even know? What about _us_? Don't you miss the rest of Section 9?"

"The rest of them are here…except for you…"

"So you're gonna leave me and Batou behind?"

"Kuze said he would allow the both of you to come with us…once you opened your eyes…"

Batou said something rather unsavory even for him.

"We can't come, Major," I told her evenly. "Batou and I have work to do. But, you know, I figured you'd leave me behind…I'm the weak link after all…but I didn't think you'd leave Batou for _Kuze_…"

Batou had this look on his face like he wanted to agree with me, but didn't want to admit it.

I took a deep breath and decided to run with it. What did I have to lose? "I mean, after all, you and Batou do have this deep, unrequited love.."

"Hey!" Batou yelled. "What are you trying to…"

"You _know_ he sits up late at night, imagining the both of you locked in a desperate, passionate embrace…"

"_Togusa!_ What the hell are you doing?!"

"…I know how much you both want to, I just don't understand why you guys keep putting yourselves through all the angst…you're like a couple of teenagers…"

Suddenly I felt myself lifted up from the bed and thrown violently into the wall. Batou stood with his hand clenched around my neck. "Dammit, Togusa, quit fooling around! What the hell are you trying to…"

He turned around and stared as light laughter floated over to the both of us. We both saw Motoko put her head down between her legs as if she were ill, then slowly raise her head up again. She blinked, and looked at us with clear eyes.

Batou let me go, and I fell hard on the floor, but I didn't care. "Welcome back, Major," I sputtered, massaging my neck.

Before she could answer, Aoi's voice ripped through our skulls. /I couldn't hold him back any longer! He's coming!/


End file.
